KARACHI/RAWALPINDI/MULTAN: Polling for the third and final phase of local government elections in 12 districts of Punjab and six of Karachi began 7.30am Saturday amid tight security and is expected to continue till 5.30pm.The Election Commission has rejected the request of several political parties to extend the polling time beyond 5.30pm.Almost all the polling stations in the six districts of Karachi have been declared ‘sensitive’ for security reasons, with only 234 of the 4,141 stations categorised as normal.

In the 12 districts of Punjab, 9,970 of the 14,012 polling stations have been declared ‘normal’. An official said 964 polling stations in the province were highly sensitive and 3,078 sensitive in the districts of Layyah, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rawalpindi, Jhang, Khushab, Multan, Sialkot, Narowal, Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalpur.

The Election Commission has established a control room in Islamabad which will work till the finalisation of election results.